Review The Transporter Season 1 (2012): Exactly what you expect, the same formula of the films but on a far lower budget!

genre: action

Can you have too much of the same thing? If you have seen one Transporter film you have seen them all. The original one featuring Jason Statham still is the best of course and with each part it got less and less. So how does this series fare? Stick around and I will tell you.

The series follows the films concerning it's concept and the character. It is still about Frank Martin driving around package from A to B and continually breaking his own rules he set up. But this time around here and there you get more background info about Frank. Seems logical since a show has more time to explore a character. But is it worth it? Is Frank really that interesting? Yes and no. It is nice to find out more about his past and why he now works as a transporter. It is also nice that the loner does seem to be able to socialize and apparently also managed to make friends in the past. Still it barely has an impact on what the show is focused about. Which is action. Most plots of the show are in service of the action. Although in certain episodes you can catch glimpses of social and political commentary. Real brief ones. Don't expect something profound or deep that will make you think and ponder about it for a long period. But just enough to give Transporter the series that little weight to make it last.

This show is not one you can binge watch. Because there is no real reason to. The arching story line is far from compelling or twisted. But I can't deny that the escapist nature of the show did make it attractive for me to watch some episodes back to back. However I did sometimes skip some of the dialogues or so called suspenseful scenes to jump to the action. There is a lot of humour injected into this show and that usually comes from Chris Vance's approach to playing Frank Martin. He seems to be taking things much lighter than Jason Statham. I say seems because in some episodes we do get introduced to a more serious and darker side and when that happens it offers a welcome change. In these moments Chris Vance also shows a vulnerability to the character that Jason Statham never has shown. I am not even sure if Statham is capable of doing that.

In my opinion this show is perfect if you just want light entertainment and not really want to dive into some overarching plot.